Peaceful Co-Existence

The theme of peaceful co-existence between members of different religions appears many times throughout the book. One of the first instances of this is experienced by Dalia's family and other Jews in Bulgaria. Though Nazis were pressuring leaders of the government to deport all the Jews to concentrations as was happening in other places throughout Europe run by Axis powers, Bulgarian citizens refused to quietly allow this to happen to their Jewish neighbors. In some instances, Jews found refuge in Christian churches, and Christian church officials protested the deportations and intervene by appealing to government officials.

This is a vast departure from some other Nazi-occupied countries, in which former neighbors and friends sometimes turned on each other. Others attempted to help by hiding Jewish people in their homes and aiding them in escaping the country, but Bulgaria stands out as an exception with how vocal...